Disagree with honor.

We don’t do honor very well in today’s church. That’s a problem, because God sees honor as valuable. We are told to honor God, our father and mother, our superiors, our neighbor. But what does that really mean?

Honor means to hold in high respect. But notice, God doesn’t say to honor only those people that you agree with. What if you disagree with someone like the president? What if you really, really dislike what he says and does? Doesn’t matter. Honor belongs to the role. To dishonor someone, anyone, tarnishes the goodness of God.

We are to be a people known for love, and dishonoring anyone does not show love. In fact, it shows that we are in great need of love ourselves. Honor does not bad mouth or complain about people. Honor shows respect, even in a discussion that disagrees.

Showing honor to your boss, your company, your co-workers, your spouse shows the goodness of God. When you are seen showing honor when it’s clear that you don’t agree, you’ve won merit in the kingdom.

Pay attention to how you talk about people. If you can’t honestly say that you’re showing honor, then don’t say it. Just like your mom always said, if you can’t say anything nice, then don’t say anything at all.

The kingdom of God is about showing kindness to an unkind world.

I saw an old episode of a tv show where a bull escaped a pen and ran at a little girl. She had her back against a fence with no where to go, so she just stood there quietly. The bull ran right up to her and stopped, then turned around and went the other way. She didn’t react, so she didn’t get hurt.

If you can choose to not react when people lose it around you, you don’t become a target for them. In fact, if you can respond in the opposite of what they are expecting, you will get their attention.

Is someone in your office always mean, grouchy, or unkind? Just show love, even when their nastiness is directed at you. You have the Holy Spirit and all His goodness to draw from. Ask Him to give you what you need: peace, patience, kindness, goodness, love. He has lots to give, so don’t stop asking.

Pray for the ones who offend you the most. Bless them. Be the one who welcomes them into the kingdom. It may take a while, but love is patient and kind. Let God show you His compassion for them. He loves them, so be His love to them.

Family will be there when you need them.

Paul said that he was all things to all people. (ICor 9:19-23) He didn’t want to exclude anyone from hearing the gospel. We are not all evangelists, but in the same way, we should be what people need us to be. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. (Rom 12:15)

In other words, be a friend. It’s the way we love our neighbor as ourselves. When we are going through a mess or difficult times, we need people around us who care and understand. It’s what you would need, so be that for someone else.

Not everyone needs to be told what to do. Sometimes they just need someone to care. It’s that simple. Do you care about other people? Will you show them kindness when they need it, especially when it interferes with your day? It gets hard to do sometimes, but that’s where the rubber meets the road. That’s what separates the real lovers from the pretenders.

Do unto others as you want them to do unto you. And don’t say that you don’t need anything just to get out of doing something for someone else. Be a friend to the friend who needs you. We are a family in this kingdom, and we need to show love to each other.

Your faithfulness to your work is honorable to God.

Faithfulness is a big deal to God. Jesus told a story about a nobleman who gave ten servants money to invest before leaving on a trip. When he came back, he rewarded the one who made the most money. Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities. (Luke 19:17)

To me, this says that it wasn’t that much work for the servant to trade well. He was faithful in very little. What is astounding is that being faithful in very little brought a huge reward. That boggles me. But it tells me that God honors those who are faithful in what they are called to.

Faithfulness extends to everything you do, especially at your job. Do you give a hundred percent? Are you surfing the web, or your cell phone, when you should be working? If you are on the clock, your time belongs to your employer. Being faithful to your job is honorable, even when you don’t like it.

Don’t allow a bad experience or the bad attitudes of others to sway to from doing what is right. Your faithfulness is an expression of your commitment to God. And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men. (Col 323)

The kingdom of God is about showing kindness to an unkind world.

Being saved in the kingdom of God requires us to change. We cannot come to Christ and not be changed. If we are not altered from the inside, then we have not experienced true salvation. When we give our hearts to God, we give Him everything. If we hold anything back and refuse to change, then we haven’t truly understood what salvation is all about.

So what happens when we do? When we are saved through Jesus, we have access to the Holy Spirit. When we ask Him to come fill us, we are given everything we need. His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue. (2Pet 1:3)

That means that you won’t react badly when someone cuts you off on the freeway. You will smile kindly when you’ve been rudely treated for no reason. You’ll want to give when you see a need you can fill.

It doesn’t mean that you won’t feel the urge to react in anger, but you have a stronger sense to respond kindly. And the more you give yourself to the Holy Spirit, the less you’ll feel the urge to respond badly. Your kind response to an unkind world is the change that happens when you live in the kingdom.

God will give you what you need to love.

Jesus makes it really hard to hold grudges. You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. (Mat 5:43-45)

That’s a pretty tall order. Do good to those who hate you! That’s hard to do, especially since our gut reaction is to protect ourselves from being hurt. We put up walls that shut people out when we’ve been hurt, and it’s hard to love that way.

So how do you protect yourself from being hurt and still love people? You fill yourself with the love of God. His love will protect your heart and give you all that you need to give out. The enemy will still try to goad you into responding badly, but keep your heart soft toward God and He will be your shield against hurt. He is a shield to all who trust in Him. (Ps 18:30)

Being protected is vital, but now you need to give out the love that God put in you. It may or may not be appreciated. Don’t worry about it. It’s a lot better than holding a grudge.

The love of God will change your perspective.

When you are motivated by the love of God, you begin to see the world through rose-colored glasses, so to speak. You really begin to see things differently. Your perspective takes on His perspective and you see things you didn’t see before.

For instance, people with ugly hearts and bad attitudes don’t trigger anger or resentment so much. Instead, you see how lost they are and how desperately God wants to draw them into the kingdom where they will be safe.

Or, a clogged up highway that slows traffic to a snail’s pace won’t create frustration and annoyance. Instead, you start to wonder if you are being delayed for heavenly reasons. Will you be safer for being late? Will you avoid a greater evil? Or run into a greater blessing?

Looking at your life from a  heavenly perspective lifts you out of petty reactions. When you know that you are in the middle of God’s plans, you have greater patience for things you can’t control, because you know that God is in control. You can roll with it.

Ask God to give you His rose-colored glasses. Ask Him to show you life from His seat. It’s a wonderful view.

Let God bless your work.

As sons and daughters of the King, we are His royal heirs wherever we go. We carry His presence, whether we feel like it or not. He’s always with us. And when we go to work, He’s right there. Want your company to be blessed? Release the kingdom of God there.

Pray for your employees and co-workers. Bless the business. Ask God to give you ideas and direction that will be beneficial. God can give amazing ideas about business matters. When you hand over those tricky problems that just resist working out, you will be the only one to come up with the perfect answer.

Being a royal heir has its privileges. Blessing from heaven is a great thing to carry around with you, but it takes having a heart devoted to God. He blesses that by answering all your needs, even for work. Your business will do well just by your devotion to God, because He wants to see you to succeed. He gave you gifts and talents for a reason, so He’s ok with blessing them.

Spend some time talking to God about your work and let Him be your silent partner. He has a lot to say and it can greatly benefit you to listen.

Return to our rest, o my soul.

You were not created to live in stress. It’s not the natural state of your spiritual DNA. You were made to live in rest. When we fail to do that, we allow fear into our lives, and that introduces all kinds of problems, including sickness.

You may need to talk to yourself. Return to your rest, O my soul, For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. (Psalms 116:7) Return to rest is to return to its natural state. That kind of rest can only come when we trust God to take care of us and help us through all the issues of our life.

Jesus makes it easy, He says, Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Matthew 11:29) He promises to do all the heavy lifting so you don’t have to. He wants to do the work for you so you can rest.

Imagine that! No stress. No worry. Do what you know to do and trust that God will do what you cannot. Relax. Take a deep breath and thank God for taking care of you. Even in the middle of a hectic day, you can carry rest in your spirit so you don’t stress out. Practice saying this: Return rest, o my soul!

You are invited to come closer to God.

God is always calling us to come closer. Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you— The sure mercies of David. (Isa 55:3) His invitation is always to draw us closer to Him.

And not only does He call us closer, He calls us up. After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.” (Rev 4:3) Yes, this is talking about John being shown revelation, but the calling is ours also.

How far into the kingdom do you want to travel? I believe that we have the capacity to walk with God like Enoch and be His friend like Abraham, only more so, because we have the Holy Spirit. In human terms, our ability to draw near to God is unlimited. We can continue to get closer and closer and closer.

He is calling us up. There is so much more to learn and see and do with Him. There are amazing things of the Spirit that we haven’t even begun to reach. I don’t know about you, but I’m going in. Want to come too?